Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: Digital Man to Ogg on Wed Apr 17 2024 10:55 pm

There's a new thing called "eSIM", maybe that's what they're referring to: https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/esim-explainer/

eSIMs can, in theory, be reprogrammed. You could link your phone to a service provider and then switch to a different service provider, unless I am mistaken.
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Re: Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Ogg on Tue Apr 16 2024 06:42 am

I'm on a MVNO called Cricket, wholly owned by AT&T. Their $60 plan

is successively cheaper. I pay $130/month for 4 "unlimited" lines. If I

Have you heard of StraightTalk? They are an MVNO on all the networks, but you can pick AT&T specifically (what I did). Never did the multi-line thing myself, but their website says you can get four "unlimited" lines for $100/mo. That gives each line 10gb of hotspot data, and you can pay more for more of that. Another one is RedPocket, who has some decent deals on yearly plans, and at least once a year has a really good sale. Personally, I don't use more than 1-2gb per month, so when their 1year 5gb/mo plan comes around for $130-150, it's hard to say no. Again on AT&T network (if that's your thing).

Also, just to throw some more info out.. prepaidcompare.net has a pretty good listen of MVNO plans, should you want to just see what's out there.

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Re: Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: Nightfox to paulie420 on Tue Apr 16 2024 06:47 pm

I've heard a lot of people say T-Mobile service isn't very good.. And years

It's all about where you live. In some places, TMo is the best. Here in Phoenix, it's AT&T's testing grounds, so they are the best with absolutely zero dead zones. VZW and TMo have them here and there, with TMo being the worst.

You should be able to put just about any carrier's sim card in another phone as long as the phone is unlocked for that carrier, except for the supercheap Tracfone ones.. and even with Tracfone, you can get a "bring your own device" sim card for $1, transfer your service to that, then put it in any device.
It's actually a little tougher for VZW sims, or at least it used to be, because they don't work in Chinese or other foreign GSM-only phones. It -may- be different these days with everything being on LTE, but I'm pretty sure I still see phones that say only work on AT&T and Tmo (ie: NOT Verizon).

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Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: Nightfox to Ogg on Wed Apr 17 2024 11:57 am

those budget phone carriers don't even have a place for a SIM card. They're

That's how it was when Sprint and CDMA was still around, but that's not the case anymore. All three carriers (and most 1st world countries) now require LTE, which either uses a physical sim or an eSim... and budget phones don't yet support eSims.

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Re: Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: paulie420 to Nightfox on Wed Apr 17 2024 06:13 pm

they never got there. Its one of the reasons they went Verizon only for the

You might mean AT&T :). Verizon was still CDMA at the time and iPhones didn't support CDMA (GSM only) for a while.

VOIP on cell data used to suck, a lot.. it's a little bit better with LTE these days, but still not as solid/dependable as the regular voice cell. I mostly use Matrix for voice calls within the family. Very rarely do I have to call anyone else. The wife has a data-only plan on her phone so she uses Google Voice when calling others. Then we also have VOIP set up at the house. But, I'm paranoid so I think I will always have a voice-capable phone. It's probably all in my head, but it just feels like VOIP is so much easier to log and spy on. There are still SOME decent FCC regulations that real phone companies have to comply with.. VOIP ones do not, afaik.

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Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: Nightfox to Ogg on Thu Apr 18 2024 09:43 am

No. I had a couple of Samsung Galaxy phones with Virgin Mobile, and they

Yup, CDMA. That didn't use sims and was linked to the phone's ESN or electronic serial number. Now the device's number is called the IMEI and the sim card's number is the ICCID. Don't remember what those stand for off the top of my head atm :).

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phigan wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Have you heard of StraightTalk? They are an MVNO on all the networks,
but you can pick AT&T specifically (what I did).

I didn't know you could choose your carrier, that's pretty cool. I
thought they were all Verizon.

Even though they're MVNOs, many still offer phone subsidies if you port
a number in. I should port the number in to get new phones every couple
of years.




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phigan wrote to paulie420 <=-

VOIP on cell data used to suck, a lot.. it's a little bit better with
LTE these days, but still not as solid/dependable as the regular voice cell. I mostly use Matrix for voice calls within the family. Very
rarely do I have to call anyone else.

I have one of those Comcast/Xfinity land lines that come in over VOIP.
Been thinking about ditching it and cutting my service down to the bare
minimum. GV for business and wifi calling through my cell phone, since
coverage is spotty here. Works, mostly, but I was a telecom manager in
a former life and I've been tempted to set up an Asterisk PBX at home.

Once a telecom manager, always a telecom manager. Work is mostly Teams
calling and Ring Central phones. We have a handful of legacy sites using
Asterisk that the network team won't support, guess who's supporting
those now? :)



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Re: Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to phigan on Thu Apr 25 2024 06:44 am

I have one of those Comcast/Xfinity land lines that come in over VOIP. Been thinking about ditching it and cutting my service down to the bare minimum.

You might end up paying more.. One time, I had Comcast/Xfinity for both internet and basic cable TV. When I realized my over-the-air TV reception was actually fairly good in that location, I called Comcast to cancel the cable TV so I'd just have internet, but they said my bill would increase.

Nightfox

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Re: Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to phigan on Thu Apr 25 2024 06:31 am

a number in. I should port the number in to get new phones every couple
of years.

In my experience, the companies with the supercheap phone service have very overpriced devices :). On the other hand, MVNOs like Metro often have really good deals on devices, but their service prices are high. So, you have to play the game of getting a really cheap device with paying for just one month of service, then letting the service plan expire and waiting 6 months for the phone to unlock.

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Re: Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to phigan on Thu Apr 25 2024 06:44 am

a former life and I've been tempted to set up an Asterisk PBX at home.

<3 Asterisk. Been running it at home for like 20 years now :). Man, I used to have so many free incoming numbers, and several ways of at least calling toll free numbers for free (which was great for work conf calls).. they've all gone away now, unfortunately. At least I can still call home from anywhere with SIP as long as I have internets.

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Re: Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to phigan on Thu Apr 25 2024 06:31 am

phigan wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Have you heard of StraightTalk? They are an MVNO on all the networks, but you can pick AT&T specifically (what I did).

I didn't know you could choose your carrier, that's pretty cool. I
thought they were all Verizon.

Even though they're MVNOs, many still offer phone subsidies if you port
a number in. I should port the number in to get new phones every couple
of years.

I don't think you can pick your carrier anymore. i know i went from a ATT sim to tmobile a couple of years ago. I couldn't get decent 5g on my phone until i did that. now i still have that sim but they want me to go to verizon sim.
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Nightfox wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

You might end up paying more.. One time, I had Comcast/Xfinity for
both internet and basic cable TV. When I realized my over-the-air TV reception was actually fairly good in that location, I called Comcast
to cancel the cable TV so I'd just have internet, but they said my bill would increase.

Yeah, they try that. I usually insist on a price point and tell them to
find me a deal that matches that.



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phigan wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

In my experience, the companies with the supercheap phone service have very overpriced devices :). On the other hand, MVNOs like Metro often
have really good deals on devices, but their service prices are high.
So, you have to play the game of getting a really cheap device with
paying for just one month of service, then letting the service plan
expire and waiting 6 months for the phone to unlock.

If you're looking for a decent Android phone, Cricket has the Moto G
line - I picked up a Moto G5 Stylus for $130 on an upgrade, and it's a
solid mid-range phone with 5g, a couple of lenses, 128GB/6GB storage and
a stylus.

It's slow compared to my family's iPhone 12 and 14, but I need a phone
for work and to play podcasts. Camera is so-so.



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Re: Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to phigan on Fri Apr 26 2024 06:41 am

a stylus.

It's slow compared to my family's iPhone 12 and 14, but I need a phone
for work and to play podcasts. Camera is so-so.

i've had motorola phones for a long time. their cameras are always not so great.
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Re: Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to phigan on Fri Apr 26 2024 06:41 am

If you're looking for a decent Android phone, Cricket has the Moto G
line - I picked up a Moto G5 Stylus for $130 on an upgrade, and it's a

Personally, I'm not a fan of Moto phones. Remember "Hello Moto" ? I say "Hell no, Moto!" :) ... I did like the Motorola Atrix and the Nexus 6.. but that was about it.

I got a OnePlus Nord N10 through Metro for $60, and since then they had the Nord N30 (which a buddy of mine got) for the same price. The N10 is nice and the N30 is even snappier. The camera seems fine, but it's probably not as good as my Samsung's or Pixel 7's (or iPhone X).

I have a lot of phones.

Right now I'm typing on a Pinephone, which I compiled Syncterm on :D

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Re: Re: luckymobile, anyone?
By: phigan to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Apr 27 2024 01:45 am

I got a OnePlus Nord N10 through Metro for $60, and since then they had the Nord N30 (which a buddy of mine got) for the same price. The N10 is nice and the N30 is even snappier. The camera seems fine, but it's probably not as good as my Samsung's or Pixel 7's (or iPhone X).

I have a lot of phones.

Right now I'm typing on a Pinephone, which I compiled Syncterm on :D

why do you have a lot of phones? are you the phone man?
lord of the phones?

i have 2 phones and i hate it.
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